Hidden Transactions
A parade of indecipherable sigils and runes marched across the smartphone’s screen while a tiny geyser of arterial blood sprayed from its audio jack, ruining the bulky graphic design and photography books fastidiously laid out on the coffee table. Sulfurous smoke crept into the living room from wall vents and door cracks while outside an unscheduled eclipse obstructed the noonday sun.
“I thought you said that app had no hidden transactions!” Melissa shouted at her fiancé, Michael.
“Now, honey,” Michael replied with a voice strained by equal parts fear and frustration, “please don’t put words in my mouth. We talked about that with the counselor, right? What I said was the app wouldn’t cost us any money. Big difference.”
The well-appointed room’s various shadows coalesced and resolved into a single, wickedly horned form. The carpet smoldered under its cloven feet. Awed by terror, Melissa shrank away from the creature as it raised a pointing talon in her direction. It’s dark and featureless face turned to regard Michael. A furnace mouth opened and asked, “5 years?” in a questioning tone that was totally at odds with its deep and guttural power.
Michael, robbed of his own ability to speak, merely nodded his head. The Shadow then pointed its talon at the convulsing smartphone and whispered an alien phrased that ended with a simple: “It is done.”
And just like that the monstrous Shadow was gone, along with the rotten egg stink of the smoke and the copious deposits of blood from the coffee table. Michael went to the smartphone and gingerly picked it up, his face slowly breaking into a wide grin. “Look, honey, I told you everything was fine. We’re at Level 66 now! And our inventory has even been replenished!”
Wonder overcame the remaining fear on Melissa’s face. “R-really? We’re at Level 66, with all of our supplies back? It would have taken us weeks to get there on our own! Alright, alright, you’re out of the doghouse I suppose. But what was that ‘5 years’ business anyway?”
Michael kissed his fiancée’s forehead as he took her hand and pulled her on to the couch to play ‘Infernal Equilibrium’ with him. “Nothing we need to be worry about right now.”
